Page images
PDF
EPUB

dam, he had afterwards taken the Epistle to the Romans as the subject of a series of discourses from the pulpit, and when he had come to the explication of the Seventh chapter,-concerning the received interpretation of which he had then begun to conceive scruples in his mind, because it seemed both to undervalue the grace of regeneration and to diminish all zeal and attention to piety;-he diligently considered the chapter from the beginning to the conclusion with a good conscience, as it was proper that he should do, and as the nature of his public function required; he collated it with those passages which preceded it and followed; he revolved all of them, in their several particulars, as in the of God; he read all the various commentators upon it presence which he could procure, whether among the ancients, those of the middle ages, or among the moderns; and, at length, after having frequently invoked the name and aid of Almighty God, and having derived his chief human assistance from the commentaries of Bucer and Musculus on that part of Holy Writ, he discovered that the received interpretation could not bear the scrutiny of truth, but that the passage was to be entirely understood in reference to a man living under the law, in whom the law has discharged its office, and who therefore feeling true contrition in his soul on account of sins, and being convinced of the incapability of the law to save him, inquires after a Deliverer, and is not in fact a regenerated man, but stands in the nearest grade to regeneration. This explanation of the chapter he publicly delivered from the pulpit; because he thought that such a course was allowable by the liberty of prophesying, which ought always to have a place in the church of Christ. Though this diligence in elucidating the Scriptures, and the candour which he displayed, deserved singular praise and commendation, especially from all persons of the ecclesiastical order; yet by some zealots, in whom such a conduct was the least becoming, it was received in a manner which shewed that the author ranked no higher with them than as one who, instead of receiving a reward, ought to be charged with mischief and insanity. Such is the result of employing a sedulous care in the investigation of the Scriptures, and of cultivating the liberty of prophesying; and it is esteemed a preferable service, to render the servants of Christ the slaves of certain men who lived only a short time before ourselves, and almost to canonize their interpretation of the Scriptures as the only rule and guide for us in our interpretations.

When our father perceived these things, he began to write this If God commentary, which at length he brought to a conclusion.

had granted him longer life, he would have corrected his production with greater accuracy, as he had already begun to do; but as he was prevented by death, and thus rendered incapable of giving it a final polish, and yet as, in the judgment of many great men, it is a work that is worthy to see the light, we have now ventured to publish it. Here then, FIRST, the author proposes his own sentiments, and proves them by deductions from the entire chapter, as well as from the connexion in which it stands with the preceding and the following chapters. SECONDLY. He shews that this interpretation has never been condemned, but has always had the greatest number of supporters. THIRDLY. He defends it from the black charge of Pelagianism, and demonstrates that it is directly opposed to that error. FOURTHLY. He contends that the interpretation now generally received is quite new, and was never embraced by any of the ancients, but rejected by many of them. LASTLY. And that it is injurious to grace and hurtful to good morals. He then enters into a comparison of the opinion of St. Augustine and of that which is now generally received, with his own interpretation; and concludes the work with a friendly address to his fellow-ministers.

It was our wish, most noble Bardesius, to dedicate and address this work to your Mightiness: For this desire we had several reasons. From the first entrance on his ministry, a sacred friendship subsisted between our revered father and that nobleman of honoured memory, your excellent father; a friendship which continued till your venerable parent came down to the grave, full of years and loaded with honours. You, as the lawful inheritor of your father's possessions, have also succeeded in his place as the heir of his friendships: And this is the reason why the closest intimacy was formed between you and our good father, immediately after your return from your travels, which you had undertaken for the purpose of prosecuting your studies and visiting foreign nations. You were accustomed to place a high estimate on his endowments, and frequently consulted him on questions of Theology, and very often acted upon his advice,as he did also upon yours. But after he had reflected in his mind, that he was not the slave of men but the servant of Jesus Christ, and that he was under an oath [to the observance of ] his words alone;-when, on this account, he had begun freely to inquire into the sentiments invented by men, and into their truth and necessity, and, after comparing them with the Scriptures, had also occasionally proposed with great modesty his doubts concerning them, and his animadversions on them;-when for

this reason many of those who were formerly his acquaintances and intimate friends became alienated from him, as from one who had removed the ancient land-marks out of their places;-and when some of them by degrees, both in public and private, began either to take an occasion or to make one, to circulate sinister reports concerning him, while others, with sufficient plainness, openly renounced all friendship with him ;-and when the whole chorus of ecclesiastical zealots had excited each other to rise up against him;-yet, amidst all these things, you took no offence, but, having weighed the matter in the just balance of your judg ment, you persisted to cherish a constant love for him: When he was debilitated by a slow and constant malady, as soon as the mildness of the weather and the intervals in his disorder would permit his removal, you invited him to your house in a manner the most friendly, and on his arrival you received him as the angel of the Lord: And a friendship thus pure and refined you cultivated with him, until he departed out of this life and ascended to Christ his Lord and Master. Besides, after his decease, by your conduct to our afflicted family, you shewed yourself such an one as it became that man to be who was not a pretended friend to the survivors of his departed friend; affording, by words and deeds, such substantial proofs of your kindness and beneficence towards his sorrowing widow and distressed orphans, as far exceed the feebleness of our expressions. Therefore, unless we wished not only to be the most ungrateful of mortals, but likewise to be generally depicted as such, it was exceedingly proper in us, while the posthumous writings of our revered parent are occasionally issuing from the press, to inscribe some portion of them to your very honourable and most friendly name, and by this method, as by a public document, to testify at once before the whole world our gratitude to you as well as our vast obligations.

To these considerations we may add, that our father had determined within himself, if God had granted him life and leisure, to write a system of the whole of the Christian Religion, not drawing it out of the stagnant lakes of Egypt, but out of the pure fountains of Israel, and to inscribe it to your Mightiness. As he was unable to execute his purpose, partly through the multiplicity of his engagements, and partly through the lingering nature of his disorder, you have here, in the place of the other work, the present Commentary: For in no other way than this can the design of our father now be fulfilled. We hope, the subject itself which is treated in this Commentary will not be disagreeable to you; for it is one which is excellently accordant with your

genius and disposition. It is a fact which is well known to all those who are acquainted with you, and which you do not wish to be regarded as a secret, but which you openly profess as often as occasion demands,-that you take no delight in those thorny disputations and discussions which contribute nothing to the practice of the Christian life; but that you place the chief part of religion in the true pursuit of real and solid piety. As our honoured father also shews in this work, that his wishes and purposes were in this respect similar to yours; we have thought, that nothing could be more appropriate, than to dedicate to a man of extensive learning, who is likewise deeply attached to the interests of religion, a work which is highly conducive to the promotion of piety.

Accept, therefore, with a cheerful heart and a serene countenance, this small gift, which we and our dear mother are desirous to commit to posterity, that it may perpetually remain as an endless monument of that sacred friendship which subsisted between you and JAMES ARMINIUS, our venerated parent, and, at the same time, of our own great obligations to you. To you, who have been under the influence of mercy towards our afflicted family, may the Lord God in return shew mercy; and may He enrich you and your very honourable family with every kind of heavenly blessings, to the glory of his name and to the salvation of all of us! Amen.

So pray those who are most attached to your Mightiness,

THE NINE ORPHAN CHILDREN OF JAMES ARMINIUS,
OF OUDEWATER.

LEYDEN, 13th August, 1612.

A DISSERTATION

ON

THE TRUE AND GENUINE SENSE

OF THE

SEVENTH CHAPTER OF THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

BY JAMES ARMINIUS, D. D.

INTRODUCTION.

1. WHAT is the subject of inquiry concerning the meaning of this chapter?-2. The manner in which this question is made a subject of dispute: Formerly, a latitude of sentiment respecting it was permitted.-3. Those who explain this passage as relating to a man under the law, are rashly charged with having some affinity with the Pelagian heresy.-4. Distribution of the subjects to be discussed in this Commentary.

1. THE subject of inquiry concerning the meaning of the Seventh Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, and particularly of the latter part of it, which is treated upon from the beginning of the fourteenth or fifteenth verse to the end of the chapter, is this: "Does the apostle there treat of himself, such as he then was? Or, which is almost the same question, "Under his own person does he treat about a man living in possession of the grace of Christ, or does he there personate a man placed under the law?” This question is also usually proposed in other words, thus: "Does the apostle there treat about a man who is still unregenerate, or about one who is already regenerated through the Spirit of Christ?" The latter question differs a little in its meaning from the former: (1.) Because the word "unregenerate" has a more extensive signification, embracing even those who are under the law, and at whose state the Apostle has also briefly glanced in the ninth verse of this chapter: And (2.) because the same

« PreviousContinue »